Promises
by NanoLuvsYouAll
Summary: Gabriella and Troy hate each other. Gabriella and Troy never break promises. What to do when a promise from their past comes to hunt them? "What about we promise each other that if both of us aren’t married at our 25, we’ll marry each other!"
1. Trailer

**So, this is a story I've had in mind for ages, and I finally decided to do something with it. Please tell me what you think of the idea in a review, and I'll update the first chapter…**

**Bold = narrator's voice**

Normal = what you see, what's happening… you get my drift.

**They're just two people…**

You see Troy flashing his million dollar smile at a couple of girls, they giggle and he smirks. The scene fades.

You see Gabriella smiling innocently and walking on the sidewalk. The scene fades.

**Just t****wo sworn enemies since high school.**

You see a teenage Gabriella and Troy fighting in the middle of the cafeteria with everyone watching. The scene fades into Troy and Gabriella in a street full of people. They're in their twenties but once again fighting in the middle of a crowd. The scene fades.

**They have**** the same friends...**

You see the whole gang sitting together in a starbucks. All their friends are laughing whilst Troy and Gabriella sit and glare at each other. The scene fades.

**But they ****have also been known for one common thing…**

**They never, ****ever**** break their promises.**

**So what happens when one promise from their past comes back to them?**

You see a seven-year old Troy and Gabriella sitting on the floor in front of a fireplace. Gabriella looks sad and Troy worried, suddenly his face lights up.

'What about we promise each other that if both of us aren't married at our 25, we'll marry each other!' Gabriella looks at him surprised, than smiles happily.

'Promise.' Troy grins and hugs her.

'Promise.' The scene first freezes, than fades.

**Will this be their first promise to break? Or will they keep ****it even through their hate for one another? And what's their story, anyways?**

**You'll find out in:**** Promises**

**Sooo, what do you think??? Please review!**

**xoxo Naomi**


	2. That's Us for You

**So, I ****got a lot of positive replies to the trailer, and I'm hoping it'll be the same for this very first chapter of**_** Promises**_**. For any reading **_**Do I love the Geek or the Star?**_**, I'm working on the next chapter, but I'm not making any promises, 'cause it's gonna be pretty long, and still really tied up in schoolwork... :S**

**That's us for you**

"Troy Alexander Bolton, are you calling me a slut?!" Gabriella Montez angrily glared at the blue-eyed boy standing in front of her. They were standing in front of their Starbucks, well, **their** Starbucks, the Starbucks the gang always went to. Around them people were watching and there were light flashes everywhere. The light flashes were caused by the paparazzi taking pictures of their fight. They were used to it; seeing almost everyone from their little group was famous in some way, there was no other way...

"Well, yeah... maybe I am!" Troy Bolton angrily glared back at her. They were having one of their usual fights. They fought pretty much always; they hated each other. It's just that they were forced to hang out because they had they same friends. Unlucky coincidence.

"That's bullshit, Bolton, and you know it! If there are any sluts around it would be the pretty much undressed girls you hook up with!" On the side, their friends were watching the fight tiredly, for as far as they knew, it had always been this way. Troy and Gabriella had always hated each other, and nothing could ever change that. Not that they hadn't tried, they had! Especially Sharpay had tried every way she knew to get people together, and Sharpay Evans knew** a lot** of meddling methods.

"They are dressed!" At this, the girls that were part of the gang, meaning Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi, snorted. They had seen the girls Troy hooked up with as well, and Gabriella was right a bout them being pretty much undressed.

"Of course they are, Bolton. After all... underwear is also clothes." At this Gabriella turned around and moved towards the flashes. Automatically the paparazzi made a path for her to go through, whilst still shooting pictures. After the first public fight of Troy and Gabriella, they hadn't, and they'd suffered the consequences of not listening to an angry Gabriella. So every time Troy and Gabriella had a public fight, let's say, almost every other day, the paparazzi moved aside when either one wanted to pass.

As Gabriella walked away, Troy cursed loudly. Why did she always have these good comebacks?! He looked at the gang and saw they were waiting for him to come so they could say goodnight and just get home already. Reluctantly he made his way to them, however halfway, a girl wrapped herself around him.

"Hi superstar... wanna have some fun tonight?" He looked at the girl. She had wild, long, blonde curls, big, blue eyes and perfectly kissable lips, covered in soft pink gloss. He than looked further and a smirk formed on his lips. The girl wrapped around him, wore a short, hot pink, with black lace decorated top that resembled a bra very much, underneath she wore a short, black, shiny, mini skirt and the outfit was finished with black four-inch heels.

"You bet… come, my car is over there." As the girl stepped in his car he looked over at his friends and winked, his usual way of saying goodbye when he was about to have a quick fuck.

* * *

"Great, so now both of them have left!" Sharpay pouted, her sparkly pink lips stuck forward childishly.

"I know, Shar… we saw them too." Sharpay rolled her eyes, and stuck her tongue out at Taylor, who returned the gesture.

"Anyways guys, I don't know about you, but I'm heading home. That fighting of them, it's getting me pretty tired." Kelsi nodded in agreement at Jason comment.

"You're right, I'm so sick of this! Isn't there anything you can do Shar?" Everybody turned to the blonde drama queen. Sharpay shrugged helplessly and smoothed out her white mini skirt.

"We've tried everything I know, everything I could think of myself, and even the crazy ideas you guys came up with!" They all sighed disappointed. But suddenly Sharpay let out a loud high pitched squeal. "I've got another idea!" They all looked at her curiously. "But I'll have to work it out before you can hear it, sorry." They groaned, but didn't argue, no one has ever come unharmed out of an argument with Sharpay Evans.

"Well, I'm heading home, coming babe?" Chad turned to Taylor, she nodded and the said goodbye to everyone, as also the others went home, leaving only the Evans twins.

"Shar, do we even wanna know what you have in mind?" Ryan Evans looked at his twin sister curiously. Sharpay smiled innocently, and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"How am I supposed to now?" Ryan groaned loudly as their limo arrived to pick them up and his older sis hopped in, slowly he followed her, wondering what the hell she would be getting them into this time. Sharpay's plans hadn't always worked out too well…

_*Flashback*_

"_Sharpay Evans if you don't open this door up immediately I will… I will…" _

"_You will what, Gabs?" Sharpay smirked as she stood in front of the closet's door. The gang had been so fed up with all the fights between Troy and Gabriella that they'd decided to lock them up in a closet until they'd sorted out their differences. So, that's where they were now. _

"_Yes, what will you do __**Gabriella**__?" The teasing voice of Troy could now be heard through the door. _

"_If you don't shut up I __**will **__kill you, Bolton!" Everyone looked at Sharpay worried; she was after all the leader of all their plans. She too looked a little hesitant, but made no attempt to open the door. _

"_I'm not letting you guys out of there until you get along!" For a moment there was silence, and they all looked at each other, hoping the point had finally gone through their thick skulls. _

"_Are you crazy Sharpay?! I don't wanna be locked up with this bitch for the rest of my life!" _

"_Don't call me a bitch, you're worse yourself, you stupid asshole!" So much for the silence, and for getting the point through. They all looked at Sharpay again, who in her turn was watching the door in shock. Meanwhile Troy and Gabriella were still yelling at each other. _

"_Maybe we should get them out before the kill each other…" All heads turned to Chad, who was watching the door nervously. "I mean, I don't really wanna lose my best friend because I locked him up in a closet with his worst enemy!"_

"_He's right! They might just kill each other!" Taylor was looking very worried for the sake of her best friend as well, in her case Gabriella instead of Troy. Sharpay groaned in frustration. _

"_I'm not opening that door until they get along! For all I care they kill each other, in that way we'll get rid of the fighting as well!" And than she stormed away towards her suite. The rest of the gang remained standing in front of her major closet and looked at each other. Finally, Zeke shrugged. _

"_There's no use in standing here now, is there? She's got the keys..." And with that he followed Sharpay. Eventually, everyone ended up in Sharpay's suite, playing Truth or Dare and having the greatest fun, completely forgetting the other two friends. It was relaxing to be able to hang without having fights about every little thing every five minutes. Suddenly they jumped up, caught of guard by yelling coming from the closet. Immediately they shot up and ran towards it, wondering who'd gotten killed._

"_Sharpay, open up!" Everyone let out a__ sigh of relief, it was just Troy yelling to Sharpay to open the door. _

"_No, not until you guys get along!" _

"_But we already do!" The whole gang __looked at the door in shock, could it really be?_

"_We really do Shar… Troy isn't lying."_

"_Prove it!" Sharpay looked at the door anxiously, together with all of them, hoping, praying they really got along._

"_How?" They shared a glance, before once again turning to Sharpay, who was chewing her lip in thought._

"_Hmmm, I don't know. Call out three good characteristics of the other one…"_

"_Gabriella's smart, caring and she never breaks a promise…"_

"_Troy's funny, talented and he never breaks a promise…" Sharpay looked at the door in shock before squealing loudly and opening the door. Immediately Troy and Gabriella stormed out. _

"_Omg, Sharpay! I can't believe you had me locked up with that asshole for 2 hours, 14 minutes and 55 seconds!"_

"_You're one to talk! I was locked up with you for… for… what you've just said!" A loud groan of disappointment echoed from all our mouths and Sharpay sighed in defeat. _

"_You guys said you were getting along!" Gabriella turned to Sharpay and glared at her._

"_It's called acting… __**you**__ should know!" With that, she resumed her fight with Troy, leaving a shocked Sharpay. Finally, Shar managed to close her mouth, and sighed in defeat once more, before returning to her suite. Troy and Gabriella would never get along, no matter how hard they tried. And they __**tried**__… and they'd never give up. _

_*End Flashback*_

* * *

The next morning Troy woke up surprisingly early after a short sleep. He looked beside him to find the blonde girl of the night before lying peaceful beside him. He smirked slightly as he saw various hickeys in her neck; he loved leaving his marks on a girl. He slowly got up and put on a clean boxer. He made his way to the kitchen and made himself coffee. As he took a sip he suppressed a yawn, he was damn tired. They'd gotten at his place around 10.30, and they probably hadn't gone to sleep until something like 5.30, and it was 9.00 now. Just as he was reliving the memories from last night he felt a thin arm wrap around his waist and a body being placed behind him.

"Good morning." The husky whisper made the hair on his arms stand upright, in a good way. "You know, I'd heard you were good… but still you were so much better as any guy should ever be aloud to be." He smirked again, like it's the first time he'd heard that!

"Why, thank you… you're pretty talented yourself." He felt her body shift closer to him.

"You got some time left?"

"Well, I've got practice at 10.00… so I've got to leave at 9.45." He felt her body press even closer to his and she brought her mouth to his ear as another husky whisper escaped her lips.

"Than we'll just have to be quick…" He smirked. He'd expected her to do something like that, that's what they usually said. He turned around. She was still naked, but had his blanket wrapped around her. He smirked again, before removing the hand that was keeping the blanket up and pulling her in his arms, kissing her passionately.

* * *

At the same time, Gabriella Montez slowly woke up in her own house, alone. As her eyes flutter open and she stretches, she thinks back of her dream from last night. It wasn't really a dream, more a memory… a memory she'd rather forget. She sighed before getting up and walking to her bathroom.

As she looked in the long mirror at herself, her eyes were immediately drawn to the thin white line next to her hipbone, just visible above her sweatpants. She adverted her eyes. That scar brought back other memories, other memories she didn't want to remember. She sighed again and than took of her clothes before getting in the shower. As the warm water streamed down her face, she did what a lot of people tend to do when showering… she sang. She sang the song she'd written right after he'd let her down. The song that held all the emotions she'd felt back than, the wounds he hadn't been able to heal, neither had he wanted to… after all, he caused them. The one song, she'd wanted to sing tonight.

She'd decided against it though, if you had to entertain a whole crowd at a finale-game for the NBA, you could hardly sing a depressing song. Tonight was the finale-game for the NBA for the Lakers, and back in those days, a player on that team had promised her he'd make sure she would sing at his first NBA finale-game… and he always kept his promises.

**So… what did you guys think? Please let me know, in a REVIEW…**** Oh, and about the signing thing, I don't really know if it's possible or anything, but just go along with me here.**

**xoxo Naomi**


	3. The Game The Song The Memory

I'm so proud of myself! I updated in a week!!! I've had this written for ages, but I don't let myself update until I've written another chapter, otherwise I'll fall behind, like I have with my other stories, :S

**The Game… the Song… the Memory**

"And Bolton fakes left and breaks right and it's in!" Than a loud buzzer was heard. "And it's the break, and as you'll all have heard, at the end of this game, there'll be a singer performing, chosen by the Lakers. Even more exciting 'cause there's this rumour she's chosen by Bolton personally." The commentator's voice is heard loudly as Troy falls down on the benches, picks up his water bottle and takes a large gulp.

"Hi mate! The coach says that I'm in after the break, but only if we do the magical Bolton-Danforth teamwork!" Troy looks up at his bushy haired friend, whose right now supporting a broad grin. Chad couldn't be happier, he'd be able to play in the finale for the championship with the Lakers, together with his best friend!

"Great Chad!" Troy takes another large gulp of water and his eyes wander over the crowd.

"So… you gonna tell who's gonna sing?" Troy looks up at his friend. He'd talked to the coach and been able to convince him to let him choose a singer. After that he'd never brought it up to anyone again, and nobody knew who was going to sing. Well apart from him… and from her. If she even remembered the promise. It seems like she did, though. As he looks over, he notices she looks extremely nervous and keeps playing with the hem of her dress.

"I'm not going to tell you Chad… you'll see after we win." Chad sighs in defeat, knowing his best friend good enough to know he's not going to tell. Instead, he focuses on finding the gang between all the other people. As he finds them, he excitedly waves at them. They all smile and wave back, all apart from a small brunette sitting on the far end on the benches and looking like she's about to throw up. He frowns slightly, did she know about their announcement?! But he shrugs it off as the buzzer is heard again, and the team runs on court.

* * *

"And the buzzer goes off, it's official, the Lakers have won and we're finally going to see what Bolton has in store for us!" The commentator's voice is over-excited and extremely loud. The crowd was going wild as well and therefore a short brunette was able to slip away unnoticed.

Gabriella made her way through the crowd towards the place she saw Troy, who was carried by the team, also heading. As Troy arrives there, he gets a mic handed to him.

"Hello everybody! Now, you all must've heard that I chose our singer, right?" The crowd made a lot of noise, and Troy laughed. "Ok, OK. I get it. Well the reason that I've done that is because, well… a long time ago, I promised this girl that I'd make sure she'd sing at my first NBA finale game, and I always keep my promises. So here for you I have… Gabriella Montez!" The crowd roared. They knew Gabriella, she was just as well known as Troy, just because they hated each other's guts.

Gabriella nervously made her way on stage, she took the mic from Troy and looked at the crowd than she took a deep breath and handed a CD to the guy who took care of the techniques. As he started it up, she turned back to the crowd.

"Hi everybody! So Troy just told you why I'm standing here, back than when he promised me he'd do this, I dreamed of being a singer. But that's a long time ago… anyways I'm going to be signing _The Way I loved You _for you, I wrote it couple of years back, on my sixteenth, I believe…" She looks aside, and gives the guy she gave her cd to a sign. The music starts and the crowd grows silent, softly Gabriella starts signing.

"_He is sensible and so incredible  
And all my single friends are jealous_

_He says everything I need to hear and it's like  
I couldn't ask for anything better  
He opens up my door and I get into his car  
And he says you look beautiful tonight  
And I feel perfectly fine_"

Sharpay gasps softly, "This is about Robert, remember? Sophomore year, he was perfect. I never knew she wrote a song about him, or that she wrote songs, or could sing..." She frowned slightly as the others shrug. "Troy, how did you know Gabriella sung and wrote songs, and when did you make that promise?" However, he seemed not to have heard here. From the moment Troy had heard Gabriella sing his eyes had been transfixed on her, burning a hole in her head. He didn't hear Sharpay, he didn't hear the words Gabriella was singing, only her voice, unchanged, beautiful and innocent… Somehow, it seemed to cut through him like a knife.

"_But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain  
And it's 2am and I'm cursing your name  
You're so in love that you act insane  
And that's the way I loved you  
Breakin' down and coming undone  
It's a roller coaster kinda rush  
And I never knew I could feel that much  
And that's the way I loved you_"

The flashbacks hunt through Gabriella's mind as she sings the chorus. His hair, his face, his eyes… the way they used to be, everything. She could feel Troy's eyes on her, burning, but she didn't look, didn't even glance in his direction, right now she just wanted to sing, she didn't want to see his hateful eyes, didn't want to fight.

At the same time: "Ok, now I've got no idea who that's all about. You Tay? Kels?" As both girls shake their head, Sharpay softly curses. As she looks at the guys, she notices they're all staring, mouth open. Except Troy. He seems frozen in his place, his face completely emotionless. Sharpay frowns again. What the heck was that? But she simply shrugs, placing it behind like all other secrets both Troy and Gabriella seemed to have, one of them being uncovered by her personally, and exposed in no more as five minutes.

"_He respects my space  
And never makes me wait  
And he calls exactly when he says he will  
He's close to my mother  
Talks business with my father  
He's charming and endearing  
And I'm comfortable_

_But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain  
And it's 2am and I'm cursing your name  
You're so in love that you act insane  
And that's the way I loved you  
Breakin' down and coming undone  
It's a roller coaster kinda rush  
And I never knew I could feel that much  
And that's the way I loved you_

He can't see the smile I'm faking  
And my heart's not breaking  
Cause I'm not feeling anything at all"

"That would explain why she didn't seem to care about their break-up, she really didn't care..." Sharpay moved her head slightly, trying to catch Gabriella's eyes. Gabriella, in her turn, seemed to be avoiding looking at them. She frowned, before glancing back at Troy, understanding washed over, as she saw the dark stare focused on her friend, it seemed obvious to her Gabriella had foreseen such a reaction.

"_And you were wild and crazy  
Just so frustrating, intoxicating  
Complicated, got away by some mistake and now_

I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain  
It's 2am and I'm cursing your name  
I'm so in love that I acted insane  
And that's the way I loved you  
Breaking down and coming undone  
It's a roller coaster kinda rush  
And I never knew I could feel that much  
And that's the way I loved you oh, oh

And that's the way I loved you oh, oh  
Never knew I could feel that much  
And that's the way I loved you"

Gabriella was breathing heavily as she smiled at the cheering crowd. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the gang loudly cheering for her. Her grin widened, and she tried to catch her breath.

"Wow, thanks, I hope you liked it… I know I did! And, well, thank you very letting me sing here tonight!" Gabriella carefully made her way to the gang, on her way being pushed and grabbed and pulled by her new fans. As she met the gang halfway she was immediately evolved in a hug by all the girls.

"OMG! Gabs, that was amazing! I never knew you could sing!" Gabriella giggled at the squealing so obviously Sharpay.

"Thank Shar… I'm not that good though, and I haven't song in like forever."

"No, really Gabs, you're great." Gabriella looked at Kelsi, before smiling and pulling them all back for a hug again.

"Good signing up there, Gabster. But if you'll excuse us, we've got an announcement to make, you just stay here with Troy." Immediately her smile disappeared, she stood with Troy as the gang hurried to the mic. As Chad got the mic, Gabriella and Troy were still silently glaring at each other, not really caring what announcement there was to make anyways.

"Ok, hi everybody. I've got a very important announcement to make concerning my best friend Troy Bolton." Everybody turned their head to Troy, who was still glaring at Gabriella, both completely oblivious to it all. "Troy… Troy… could you please pay some attention?!" Chad sighed as his calls got no effect. "Never mind. I wanna announce that our dear friend Troy here," Chad continued as he slightly glared in Troy's direction. "is engaged." Immediately Troy's head spun around in synch with Gabriella's, both now turning to stare at Chad in shock.

"Chad, I am so not engaged!" Troy looked at his best friend furiously.

"Yes you are… and to none other as Miss Gabriella Montez herself…"

REVIEW!!! Please… I really wanna know what y'all think. 

xoxo Naomi


	4. Holy Shit, We're Engaged

Hi everybody! Sorry for my rather late update, it's just been really busy. Enjoy anyway!

**Holy Shit… We're Engaged!**

_Recap:_

"_I wanna announce that our dear friend Troy here is engaged." Immediately Troy's had spun around in synch with Gabriella's both now turning to stare at Chad in shock. _

"_Chad, I am so not engaged!" Troy looked at his best friend furiously._

"_Yes you are… and to none other as Miss Gabriella Montez herself…"_

"Oh no, he isn't!" Gabriella glared at Chad angrily. How could he say something, something so, so, disgusting!

"Yes he is, and before the two of you start protesting again, I wanna show everybody a little tape…" Chad turned to Sharpay and nodded. Immediately it got dark and film started playing on a wall.

_A little dark haired girl is crying in the arms of a little shaggy haired boy. They both look around 7 or 8. The boy seems to be soothing the girl. The boy looks up slightly and you can see his bright blue eyes. He looks down again, and pulls the girl closer to him whilst she continues to cry._

"_Shh, Brie. Everything's gonna be okay…" The girl lifts her head to look him in the eyes to show to large but teary brown eyes._

"_But… it was…just…just so…so mean!" Her sentence is broken into pieces by her heartbroken sobs. _

"_Shh…it's not even like it's true, Brie. You're gorgeous." The girl's sobs finally subside a little._

"_You really think so Troy?" The boy nods, and smiles. The girl smiles back, suddenly her smiled falls._

"_You only think so because you're my friend…later when we're older, you'll marry someone much prettier, and forget about me, and I'll be all alone…" The boy looks at her in shock, as she looks in the fire from the fireplace sadly. The boy looks at her worriedly. Suddenly, his face lights up._

"_What about we promise each other that if both of us aren't married at our 25th, we'll marry each other!" The girl looks at him surprised, than smiles happily._

"_Promise."__ The boy grins and hugs her._

"_Promise." _

_The camera turns to show two older women. The woman on the left, with dark hair like the girl's, speaks up._

"_And with this we announce the engagement of Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez…" the other woman giggles._

"_I bet you they're married before that even…" The women laugh softly._

The light suddenly snaps on again, and everybody's heads automatically turn to a horror struck Troy and Gabriella. After a minute or so of silently being stared at, Troy turns to the gang angrily.

"How did you get that?!" All of them turn to Sharpay, for the first time wondering where exactly she **did** get it. Sharpay in her turns shrugs carelessly, seemingly unfazed by Troy's anger.

"I found it at Gabriella's… but I think you two have got some explaining to do!" Troy calmly ignores her last statement and now turns to Gabriella angrily.

"Why did you keep that tape?!" Gabriella turns to him angrily, finally overcoming her shock.

"I didn't! I burned it ages ago! Where did you find that thing Shar?!" Sharpay puts her hands on her hips, annoyed she's doing the explaining instead of them. After all, they're the ones who promised to marry the other whilst they hate each others guts!

"I found it in some old white box… now can you two starts explaining already?!" Again they ignore her last statement, instead Gabriella groans loudly and turns back to Troy.

"That's the copy you gave to me! I put it in my box remember?" From Troy she turns to Sharpay again. "Sharpay, that box wasn't supposed to be opened yet! That was for the night before I married… to, to… well there was a reason behind it, I just can't quite remember it…" As everybody stares at her, she blushes. "What?"

"What is a tape of Troy and you promising each other you'll marry each other doing in a box you can't open until the night before you marry?" Gabriella looks at Taylor surprised, before turning an even brighter colour red. She bites her lips and glances at Troy slightly, he in his turns is looking completely emotionless. Hesitant she now turns to Sharpay.

"What else did you find in that box, Shar?" Sharpay shrugs carelessly whilst wondering why that was important anyways.

"Don't know… I saw the tape, watched it, chose it and didn't even glance at the rest of the stuff in that box." As she notices Gabriella's face lighting up, she worriedly adds to that. "Why?"

"Oh, in that case there's no reason to tell you guys what it was doing there… I'm glad you controlled your nosiness for once, Shar. Otherwise, you would've known already…" Sharpay groans in annoyance and runs her hand through her hair.

"You know… I'm just gonna blame all of this on Michael Davidson!" Everybody looks at Troy weirdly after that statement, except for, of course, Gabriella. She nods.

"So am I…" Troy nods as well and continues.

"Yeah… if he hadn't told you, you were ugly, you wouldn't have been upset, I wouldn't have tried to cheer you up, and hence we wouldn't have made that stupid promise…" Gabriella nodded again, as well.

"We were some insane seven-year olds… Stupid, stupid Michael Davidson…" She sighs deeply before looking up again. "I'm gonna go. In a month I'll be Mrs. Bolton, 'cause Troy will be 26 after that, so I've gotta plan a proper suicide… or murder… actually murder sounds better…" And with that Gabriella leaves everyone shocked.

"Wait… did she just say she was actually gonna marry him?" Kelsi asks shocked. Everyone else turns to her just as shocked, but turn their heads again as Troy speaks up.

"We don't really have a choice… we promised, and we never break our promises." Chad looks at him in disbelief.

"Even when it's like this?!" Troy nods tiredly.

"And after that interview from last month we really don't have a choice…"

_*Flashback*_

"_I introduce to you Hollywood's most famous couple of haters…Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez!" The crowd roared as Gabriella and Troy came on stage. Gabriella smiled and waved at the crowd, Troy smiled his signature smile and winked his signature wink. Gabriella saw him do so, and rolled her eyes at him. They both sat down on the couch with the host._

"_So, why do the two of you hate each other so much?" Troy's face immediately became cold, and Gabriella resisted the urge to roll her eyes again as her face too became a mask. Why did they always start of like this, they ruined the whole interview for themselves? Once she realized Troy wasn't going to say anything, Gabriella answered the question._

"_We just do." Never mind the answering the question thing. The host continued asking, and within five minutes the couple was arguing on live television. Desperately the host tried something else, praying it would stop them from fighting._

"_But there most be something you at least have in common?" Both Troy and Gabriella frowned. After some seconds thinking, Troy spoke up._

"_I guess we do have one thing in common…" Gabriella looked at him confused, the host expectantly. "We never, and I mean __**never**__, break our promises." Gabriella's look of confusion disappeared and she nodded, the host looking kinda disappointed. _

"_Well you can't possibly keep all your promises…" _

"_Yes you can, neither me nor Troy have ever or will ever break a promise."_

"_And that's a promise…" _

"_For sure…I think we've promised that already ages ago, haven't we?" _

"_Yes we have, multiple times."_

_*End Flashback*_

Troy sighed and tiredly ran his hand through his hair, for once not caring how many girls would swoon over it. "I'm gonna go as well… I gotta find a way to murder her before she murders me…" And with that Troy leaves as well. As he's gonna the gang turn to Sharpay angrily. She looks at them, than lifts her hands defensively.

"I just planned on them spilling whatever secret they have! How was I supposed to know they would actually go through with it?! I mean them **really** marrying each other is just insane!" They all groan and Taylor glares at her.

"In case you haven't noticed yet: Troy and Gabriella do pretty insane things all the time in order to keep all their promises!" She sighs. "I'm gonna go home… I've got a terrible headache after all this screaming, c'mon babe…" As also the others leave, Sharpay is left on her own.

"Still… I'm gonna make this work somehow… and I might actually already know how!"

Any reviews please?


	5. Happily Engaged Yeah Sure!

Sorry for the rather late update, but enjoy anyway!!! 

**Happily Engaged… Yeah Sure!**

Gabriella groans loudly as an obnoxious ringing reaches her ears. Blindly she reaches for the phone on her bed-side table, and answers the call, as she finally finds her phone, in a groggily voice.

"Hi?" She stifles a yawn. Who was even stupid enough to wake her at such an indecent time?! Especially after last night, she swears to god if it was an interviewer she'd curse him to hell and back.

"Gabriella Anne Montez!" Gabriella immediately jumped up straight in her bed. Of course, who else but her mum would. And if she was guessing it was exactly because of last night. She held a slight suspicion the engagement of her and Troy was all over the papers. Troy being a famous Laker player, and she leading the biggest magazine in the state, above that, they were infamous for their fights. Actually, that's what had gotten Gabriella in the picture in the first place. No one would've have known the brains behind _Star Elite_ if not for her famous friends, especially Troy Bolton. She bit back a sigh. "How could you've not told me about your engagement?!"

"Well, because you actually already knew… and I didn't."

"Yeah, so considering that, why did you have to wake me at such a horrific hour?" Gabriella frowned as she heard Troy's voice, she hadn't known he was on the line as well, and she didn't like it. She was even more surprised as a fourth voice joined in.

"Because, Troy Alexander Bolton, I as your mother have all right to be the first to know that it's finally official, instead of together with whole America! By the way, Gabi, we think you sung wonderful last evening, it was a pleasure hearing your beautiful voice signing again after all those years!"

"Hi Lucille…and thanks." No matter how much she hated Troy, she would always love his mum, and dad, for that matter. They were like her second parents, and she knew Troy considered hers the same, or her mum, since her dad died.

"Oh, Gabi, dear. You wouldn't believe how happy me, Jack and your mum are right now!" Gabriella though back about the time their parents had been obsessing over 'Troyella', as they called them. As every best friends who are parents, they'd hoped their kids would end up together. When High School started they had forever been kept from that dream, only a little spark of hope remaining for this promise.

"Well I think I have a clue…" She fell back in her cushions. When she'd first woken up, she'd still hoped it was a nightmare. Now, there was no hesitation in saying it wasn't. Lucky her… uhum.

"And I think we're lucky we moved far away from Albuquerque to LA." She frowned as Troy interfered again, still not liking the fact that she was on the phone with him. She hadn't been on the phone with him for… for… over ten years. Wow. Was it really that long ago? Than again, it was also almost 20 years ago since they'd made that stupid promise that was forcing them to marry each other now. Honestly, she hadn't forgotten it, not really. She tried to, though, and therefore never ever brought it up.

"And I think you should just shut up already!" Stupid, stupid Troy Bolton.

"Ah… is my dear fiancée a little grumpy?" Troy asked in a baby-voice. Damn she hated that boy.

"Now, why would that be?" Gabriella replied sarcastically. She'd gone to bed unbelievingly late last night. Above the whole announcement and stuff, she had also made sure to hide her box. Otherwise, she was sure Sharpay would look through everything in it, until she had all the answers she wanted. Answers, both she and Troy had guarded with their life for years. How else could they've hidden from their friends for… ten years. Wow, they'd been friends for ten years. And she and Troy enemies for even longer.

"Kids, break it up. Learn to get along, for once!" Gabriella rolled her eyes, and knew Troy well enough to know he was too. They'd had this speech at least a million times. Ever since they'd become enemies, their parents had tried their very best to make them bond again. An impossible task, seeing they didn't knew what drove them apart in the first place. On the other end of the line Troy's sarcastic voice cut the infamous speech they knew by heart off before it could actually start.

"We never bothered before, why would we now?" Gabriella assumed that that argument would shut their parents up, and indeed there was a short silence. However, after that she was surprised by a dry chuckle.

"Maybe because you are getting married within a month?" Click. They'd hung up. For a moment she stayed silent, than she lowered the receiver from her ear, and groaned loudly. Just before she hung up she could hear Troy curse on the other side. She fell back on her bed, still exhausted and the moment her head hit the fluffy pillow, all thoughts were drained from her, and she was fast asleep again.

* * *

"Where did you leave it?" Everybody in the Starbucks looked up as Sharpay stormed to its doors angrily. "Gabriella Anne Montez, where'd you leave that box?!" Gabriella rolled her eyes, it was 10.30 by now, and the gang had met at the Starbucks half an hour ago. Well, obviously minus Sharpay who'd chosen this moment to look for the box she'd gotten the tape from.

"Obviously, I hid it, Shar." She took a sip from her coffee. "If I'd wanted to tell you, don't you think I already would've?"

"Don't you think that's the exact reason I went looking for it?" The group chuckled softly, as Sharpay went to get herself a coffee as well, muttering darkly underneath her breath. None of them had been even slightly surprised when Sharpay didn't show up, they knew her better than that. Neither were they very surprised Gabriella had hid the box, if it indeed had all the answers they all had been looking for since they befriended each other, the first thing she'd done when she came home last night, was hiding it. The group slowly continued drinking, all of them already on their second round, as they waited for Sharpay to join them again. As she did so again after a few minutes, she seemed to have gotten over the disappointment, as she sporting a bubbly smile as she plopped between Ryan and Kelsi.

"Anyways, I've got something for you guys." Immediately both Troy and Gabriella looked at her worriedly, as the gang also looked at her in surprise. Beaming, Sharpay started rummaging through her big pink Gucci bag, before yelping triumphant and getting a small package out. "There you go!" As the others watched her with growing horror, Sharpay got out a large pink folder, before looking at Gabriella with an expression that showed she was up to no good to such extent that the small brunette cowered away in fear. "But first..." She dug in the purse again, and got out a small velvet jewellery box. Immediately all the girls let out united gasps and Sharpay slowly pushed it over the table towards Gabriella, before adding in a whisper. "Your engagement ring."

Very slowly Gabriella opened the box to show the most beautiful engagement ring she'd ever seen. It was small and silver, with one diamante in the middle, shaped like a heart, and two tiny pink round ones beside it. Very slowly she took it out of the box, and examined it closer... on the inside were tiny words engraved in curved handwriting '_I Promise_'. A soft gasp escaped her lips, as she brought her hand to her mouth. With tears in her eyes she looked up at Sharpay.

"Omg, Shar. It's beautiful... I've never, in my whole life, seen such an utterly stunning engagement ring..." She looked at her other friends. Taylor and Kelsi seemed as much in awe as she was, the guys looked at her in utter confusion and bemusement, and Troy... Immediately she landed back on earth. Roughly she placed the fragile ring back in the box, and an angry look appeared on her face. "Pity it's not from someone I want to marry, or at least someone I can stand being around!" The gang sighed and groaned in unification. For just one minute everything had seemed ok... no-one was fighting, they were all looking at their engaged friends ring.

"Troy put the ring on her finger." When both Gabriella and Troy glared at her, she raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you have a choice." Troy groaned loudly, before grabbing the box, and taking the ring out. He took Gabriella's hand from across the table, and very slowly, with trembling hands, he slid the ring around her finger. They all started at it for a second, and than Gabriella let out the breath she'd been holding and pulled her hand back. For just a moment, she'd thought it was real, that she was back in the fantasies of her ten year old self, but it wasn't, her reality was an arranged marriage with a guy she couldn't stand. In her hidden disappointment she missed the flash of the same emotion in Troy's eyes. He too had been dreaming himself a perfect reality, to find it being broken abruptly as she pulled her hand back and he realized the situation and who his fiancée actually was.

"And now... your engagement planner." Sharpay pushed the folder to the middle of the table, and Gabriella and Troy stared at it wide eyed. Not until Sharpay made an impatient clicking noise with her tongue Gabriella stretched out her hand and pulled the folder towards her ever so slowly. She glanced at Sharpay, who urged her to open it with a bored hand motion. Slowly Gabriella flipped it open, and after a second of staring at the schedule she started reading. Before she was even halfway the page her eyes shot away from the paper to an unsurprised Sharpay and glared at her.

"No way!"

"What?" Sharpay lazily raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected any other reaction, all she was doing was pushing her far enough to crack, to break down and tell them all whatever secret they were keeping so fervently.

"He's so not moving in with me!" With that Gabriella pointed accusingly at Troy, without taking her eyes Sharpay, who was becoming more and more amused. Across the table several jaws dropped open, but Sharpay simply chuckled lowly.

"Oh, yes he is." Slowly Sharpay stood up, leaning over the table intimidating. "You and Basketball Boy are going to spill your secret before you walk down the aisle..." Gabriella gulped but didn't back down, leveling Sharpay's glare with one of her own. Over the years most of them had gotten used to Sharpay's ways, and occasionally even seemed immune to them. Obviously, this was one of these occasional occasions. Come to think of it, most occasional occasions had to with Gabriella and Troy and their promises and secrets. "Or are you too afraid you two won't be able to control your hormones?"

"Fine, he's moving in with me." Gabriella sat back grumpily, staring at her ring and mumbling under her breath. Sharpay turned to Troy.

"How come you're so silent on the topic?" Troy didn't respond to her, instead staring straight ahead, eyes wide, mouth agape, and his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. "Erm, Troy?" As Sharpay waved her hand in front of his face, Gabriella finally joined to rest of the group in staring at him.

"Erm... Shar, I think he's still in shock." Chad looked at her grimly, before shifting closer to Troy, and bellowing in his ear. "The Lakers suck!" Immediately Troy blinked, closed his mouth, and threw his coffee in Chad's face. After a second of blinking and shaking his head, Troy turned to Chad.

"Sorry..." Chad glared up at him, cold coffee dripping down his face. All the while the others laughed at their antics, wondering how on earth it comes that they had not gotten themselves killed just yet. Considering Sharpay's plans, though, that would probably just be a matter of time.

So, what did ya'll think? Please let me know in a REVIEW!!! You know, I love them. I'll try to have a new chapter up by next week, but no _promises_ :P

xoxo 

Naomi


	6. Marriage's About Sharing

There you go, a new chapter, right on time! Are you just as proud as I am??

**Marriage's About Sharing: My Half, Your Half**

"Ok, Bolton, now that all your junk is in, I'd like to state some ground rules." Gabriella stood in front of the sweaty guy, hand on her hips. Annoyed Troy looked up, after carrying all the stuff Sharpay thought he needed to 'his new room', he was not in the mood for a Gabriella-speech.

"Ground rules?! Are you kidding me?!" He glared at her. "Isn't this bad enough already? Do you enjoy torturing me?" Gabriella rolled her eyes, folding her arms, and glaring back at him.

"Yes ground rules, Bolton. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, this is bad enough already. And yes, I certainly do enjoy torturing you..." Troy rolled his eyes, Gabriella ignored him and carried on. "Now back to the ground rules... One: You stay in your room, I stay in mine." Troy nodded. "Two: You use the bathroom next to your room, and stay far away from mine." Gabriella's voice adopted a slightly threatening tone and Troy smirked, nodding anyway. "Three: You stay out of my office, and out of all my other stuff. Four: You keep your sluts out of my house." Troy opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "If you wanna fuck them, fine... at their place." Troy glared at her for another few seconds, and than grudgingly nodded. "Five: You clean your own mess up..." Troy rolled his eyes but nodded none the less, standing up from the kitchen chair he'd sat in.

"Was that it? 'Cause in that case, I really need a shower." Gabriella rolled her eyes, but fake-smiled and motioned for him to leave.

* * *

"Ugh, Shar, do you want me death? It's a horror living with that animal!" Gabriella was lying on the couch, painting her nails, complaining on the phone to her pink obsessed friend. "Sexual fantasies?! What is wrong with your mind?!"

"She's awful, dude! I have to clean my own clothes!" Troy walked back into the room with a beer in his hands, plopping down on the other couch, turning his gaze back to the football game playing on Gabriella's flat screen. "No, of course not by hand, with a machine-thingy..."

"He barely knows how to do his laundry, he'll break my washing machine! And he eats like a pig! I mean, imagine Chad, and that 24/7..."

"And she uses like all these complicated words! Do you know what a washing machine is?" Gabriella looked over at him in disbelief, and rolled her eyes.

"And he's just so, so, so... infuriating! I'm watching a freaking football game for gods sake! A football game!"

"And she's nagging at me, all – the – time. It works on my nerves... is it impossible for girls to stop talking? I swear she doesn't even stop a second... How do they even do that?"

"He's so stupid-"

"She's so annoying-"

"Rude-"

"Stuck up-"

"Childish-"

"Arrogant-"

"Asshole-"

"Stupid know-it-all-"

"Disgusting man-whore-"

"Prude-"

"Obnoxious-"

"Bitchy-"

"Brainless-"

"When did Sharpay hang up on you?"

"After stupid... Chad?"

"He held on longer... I could hear him breathing until know-it-all..." Gabriella rolled her eyes, tucked her phone away, and continued painting her nails in a shocking fluorescent orange, sighing to herself. She was in for _one long lifetime of commitment_. That was, if they even made it down the aisle alive.

* * *

"Bolton, pass me another beer!" Troy chucked another can at a teammate lying on the other side of the room. He had been at Gabriella's for exactly two days, they'd managed to make exactly five of their friends ignore both of their calls, gotten in exactly one hundred-fifty-three fights and had exactly one awkward half-naked encounter in the kitchen. He thought it could have gone worse. The rest of the world slightly disagreed.

"Dude, I can't believe Gabs lets us hang here with you!" Chad plopped next to his best friend with a wide grin, looking at the room thrashed with their various teammates. Morning practice was just done, and Troy, figuring Gabriella would still be at work, had invited everyone over. Now they were all hanging in the basement, which they'd transformed in a proper hanging place in just half an hour.

"What makes you think she did?" Chad looked at him confused, before his eyes got wide in horror, and he jumped up.

"No! Shit!" Panicky he gripped in his hair, a couple of their teammates looked over strangely. "She doesn't know?! Goddamnit! What time is it?" He looked at the clock on the wall, and his eyes grew even larger, his whole posture freezing. Troy laughed, nudging him with his big toe from his lying position.

"C'mon, Chad!" Chad blinked, blinked again, and than turned to Troy.

"You freaking idiot! Gabriella is going to be home any second!" Troy's eyes grew large, and quickly he checked the clock. Chad was right, it was almost five thirty! Were had the time gone? He turned back to Chad, but before he could say anything, the music formerly blasting through the space was cut off abruptly. Very slowly Troy turned his head, dreading what he was going to see. He gulped.

"Troy Alexander Bolton... what have you done... To. My. House?!" Gabriella was standing next to the stereo, working clothes on and eyes blazing. Troy gulped again and beside him he could feel Chad edging away. Some best friend that was. Slowly he changed from his lying position into a sitting one, turning so he was fully facing her.

"Well, Montez-soon-to-be-Bolton, I have sorta... livened things up a little." He gave her a cheeky smile, hiding his discomfort and fear. "You can't say this place wasn't in dire need of it." He could see Chad disappear from the far corner of his eye, and he fought hard to resist the urge to hide behind him and his hair. It wouldn't be the first time Chad's hair protected anyone from painful collisions with either objects or a floor. Bravely he kept smiling, painfully aware of all his teammates watching him and Gabriella, whose ears had started smoking by now.

"Get. Them. OUT OF HERE!!!" It was strange how such a small woman in such a striped suit could still be so threatening. For a second he considered going against her, but than he realized he quite appreciated his genitals, and something in her look told him he wouldn't have them for very long if he pushed her any further. So he rolled his eyes and shot her a lazy smile, lying back down and watching as she stormed up the stairs.

"So... why are you living here again?" Troy sighed deeply and looked at Dan, a nice bloke with a rather uninteresting face who was almost as good as him in three pointers.

"Apparently this is the only way to prove Sharpay we're not dying to jump each other..." He scoffed. "As if!" Around him it stayed strangely silent, and he looked up. "What?!"

"Well..." Dan spoke up quite nervously. "It kinda does look like you wanna jump each other..." Around them the rest nodded in agreement, and Troy could feel the anger rise in his throat, licking in his chest like flames, spreading its poison like a snake. It wasn't the comment, it wasn't what it implied... it was what it could've meant... _once_.

"Get. Out." The moment they caught side of his pale face, dark eyes and clenched fist, they made sure they were out of there. With the exception of Chad, who looked at him, and than slowly made his way after them, undoubtedly going to see where Gabriella was.

As Troy was left alone, breathing deeply, and glaring at the air. He reflected. Shouldn't he have gotten over this ages ago? He should have. It was just so damn hard since she so politely refused to stay out of his life!

* * *

"Right... Bolton? Explain yourself." Troy sighed, he and Gabriella were sitting opposite each other, both with a steaming mug of coffee. To make negotiations easier. He was going for at least keeping his genitals. He wasn't sure if he'd win, though, Gabriella was looking positively livid. She hadn't exactly appreciated being greeted with a whole bunch of Neanderthalers in her house after coming home from a hard day at work.

"Sorry...I-" She raised an eyebrow, he rolled his eyes, and started again. "We just lost track of time, I'd invited the team over after practice... We used to do it at my place all the time! And I purposely took the basement, because you don't' really use that anyway!" Gabriella raised her other eyebrow as well, and opened her mouth to give him a harsh reply... when she changed her mind, and clapped it shut. He was right. She barely did use that basement, she was always just in the living room. So, what if she just...

"Ok, what about this: you get the basement for you and your friends... and sluts, if they come in through the door there..." Troy nodded excitedly. "But from now on you stay out of the living room, permanently, and the kitchen, when you've got your... friends over." Troy hesitated slightly, it seemed like a fair deal, they'd just sorta split the house.

"And, I'm aloud to transform the basement?" Gabriella nodded. Trying her best to keep the mental images out of her head. They differed from a gross strip club, to a disgusting bar, to an uptown dancing club, to his apartment, to the bedroom of a fourteen year old she once knew... Mentally she shook her head, no use dwelling on days long gone. Long gone, even if you wished them back.

"Not too drastically, but yes, you can make some changes... oh, and keep the noise down once I'm home. I'd like some peace and quiet in my own home." She'd rather not have the same noise level she'd been forced to experience today at coming home. She heard the music a few blocks away, and that was when she'd been listening to music in her car already. Troy nodded, giving her a lopsided grin.

"Deal." She rolled her eyes, but half smiled anyway as she got up and walked out of the kitchen, taking her still warn mug with her. Troy sighed, sipping from his own, letting the bitter liquid burn his tongue.

"Oh, Bolton..." Troy whipped his head around, Gabriella had turned in the doorway, and she was now hesitantly biting her lip. "I've got a small fridge stashed away somewhere, if you'd like that-"

"Yeah, that'd be amazing. Thanks." She nodded, shot him a quick grin and left the room, closing the door softly behind her. He turned back to his coffee, and took another sip, feeling how the liquid spread warmth throughout his body. It took him a few seconds before he realized that the warmth wasn't from the coffee... this was the first sort of friendly conversation he and Gabriella had had since the start of High School. Not that it would last. He knew it wouldn't. And Gabriella, leaning against the door on the other side... She knew it too. They would be yelling at each other in an hour. She'd tell him how he was a man whore, he'd tell her she was a prude. They'd glare, they'd slam doors, they'd yell some more, perhaps she'd bitch-slap, they'd slam some more doors, than they'd yell** about** slamming doors... They'd be back to usual. Perhaps they should've just taped this conversation, as latter evidence that it did actually take place.

It's kinda funny how some people seem so shockingly good at predicting their own future.

I'd love to know what you think… *hint* Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll try to have another chapter done next week!

xoxo Naomi


	7. Welcome to Hollywood HotSpot!

Soooo. I know this is a rather, well, late update. An extremely late update. And I'm really, really sorry. It's just that my life's rather busy at this moment, and I've got a lot on my mind. But, I've updated now, and I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!

**Welcome to Hollywood HotSpot**

"How can it be that they still haven't spilled?!" Sharpay looked around the room in annoyance. "They've been living together for a week now... It's pretty damn obvious they both hate it... they haven't even jumped each other yet. I thought at least that would take three days tops..."

"Well, they seem pretty determined to keep their secret, whatever it may be." Sharpay rolled her eyes, and plopped next to Chad on the couch. The whole gang was hanging at Chad's and Taylor's place, waiting for a live talk show to start, where Troy and Gabriella would be appearing together for the first time since the engagement.

"He's right Shar... I mean, they still get in fights every time they see each other but they've limited the times they see each other down loads. I mean, they basically split the house." Kelsi said, looking at Sharpay with a half-smile.

"Yeah... I never thought she'd give Troy the whole basement. The team has never hung out as much as in the past week! And that basement rocks, though I'm not sure she knows what he's done to it." Chad grinned, and Zeke and Jason chuckled next to him. They had been in the basement as well, a couple of days before, and, even though they agreed it was amazing, were pretty sure Gabriella hated it.

"Wait... What would happen if we showed Gabriella the basement?" Sharpay sat up right, and grinned at Taylor, her most common partner in crime.

"That's... brilliant! I love you Tay!" Taylor grinned back at her, as Sharpay jumped up and started pacing up and down.

"Hey! Wait a minute, if she'd know, she'd make him change it!" Sharpay and Taylor looked at Chad blankly. "I don't want that! That's the best hang place we've had since... ever! Besides, they're no girls aloud, so Gabs can't get in." Sharpay rolled her eyes, and Taylor looked at Chad in disbelief.

"It's her own house... if she wants to, she can get in. Besides, it's Gabriella, she can be almost as scary as Sharpay." Chad looked at his girlfriend, remembered the look on Gabriella's face when she'd come in the basement that first afternoon... and shivered. Unconsciously his hands crept in front of his private parts. He feared to imagine what would've happened had there been a knife been in close proximity.

"Exactly, so-" Sharpay was almost immediately cut off by Ryan.

"Shush, it's starting!" All of them perched on the couch together, looking at the screen anxiously. On Chad's and Taylor's huge flat screen, Troy and Gabriella slowly walked on stage, waving at the cheering crowd, winking (Troy) and blowing kisses (Gabriella). They took place on the couch opposite the show's host, sitting as far from each other as possible. Which was pretty far, as there must've been five people able to sit on the couch in one go.

"Welcome everybody, you're watching Hollywood HotSpot. And for today, we've got, special for you, two of the most famous people Hollywood has ever seen... Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez." He gestured at the couch, and Gabriella waved at the camera, whilst Troy winked again.

"So... Troy... Gabriella... engaged, who'd seen that one coming?" Gabriella smiled sourly, and Troy shook his head.

"Definitely not me." Troy ran a hand through his hair.

"Still, you were the ones that made that promise..." The host pushed on.

"Yeah, we were. And therefore we've got to keep it." Gabriella smiled at him. Up till now, it wasn't that bad. At first she'd been furious to see Sharpay had scheduled an interview for them, especially since it was at Hollywood HotSpot, a show infamous for being able to pull confessions out of people.

"What's the story behind that anyway? Why do you keep all your promises? Even if it's ones like this." Immediately Gabriella's face closed down, void of all emotion, blank. Troy cleared his throat, he knew what this question did to her.

"Well, you know. If you break one promise it's easier to break another one, and another... and so on." He cleared his throat again. "Besides, even if it's just one promise you break... it can make a big difference in someone's life. Even if you didn't even mean to break it."

"I can assume you're speaking from experience here?" Troy nodded, scratching his neck. He hated talking about this, but he knew it was much worse for Gabriella, so he'd answer the question. She'd answer another one he didn't want to have to think of.

"Am I only one who notices how they get all uncomfortable talking about this?" Sharpay was staring at the screen intently, trying to decipher every movement made, every word said.

"No, you're not. It's pretty obvious actually." She glanced at Zeke in annoyance, but didn't dare take her eyes away from the screen for too long.

"So, how would you describe your engagement up till now?" Troy raised his eyebrows, where to start? Sharpay's planner, perhaps? Their moving in together? Their one civilized conversation?

"Loud." Troy snorted, glancing beside him at Gabriella, who was also sporting a small smile. Loud, that pretty much covered it. Loud fights, loud arguments... loud everything.

"Loud...?" The host looked at them in confusion, his eyes asked for an explanation. Troy smirked, and leaned back on the couch. Next to him Gabriella shrugged softly, a grin on her face as well.

"Well... we still fight a lot obviously. And we've never really been known for doing it in whispers." Troy chuckled, and the audience laughed as well. Everybody had seen at least one of the fights that had been it on the internet, and, admittedly, they were rather loud.

"And you agree with that, Troy?" Troy looked up.

"Of course, Steve. How'd think we'd describe this? Romantic?" Next to him Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Being forced to move in together by Sharpay Evans is not really what anyone would classify under 'romantic'" Gabriella chuckled softly, before she realized what exactly she'd just said. Immediately she sat up straight her eyes growing wide.

"So, you've moved in together?" Troy glared at Gabriella, who simple rolled her eyes and fake smile back at him.

"Yes." Both their faces had now grown blank, and, with exception of some glares exchanged between them, they didn't show emotion.

"And how'd you describe that?" Steve looked at them excitedly, apparently under the impression more confessions were going to come. A very wrong impression that is.

"Well, like we said, loud." Gabriella fake-smiled, and Steve finally seemed to take notice of the difference in their acting. Before they'd seemed more open and definitely way nicer.

"Who's fault is it... that made you guys hate each other this much?"

"His."

"Hers." They looked at each other in disbelief, and then Gabriella took a deep, calming, breath, and looked back at Steve.

"Well, perhaps it is my fault. I judged him wrongly. Thought he was someone, he absolutely isn't." Gabriella smiled, but it was painfully obvious the comment was a jab at Troy. Therefore it wasn't surprising to anyone, that Troy retaliated rather harshly.

"No, she's right, it was all my fault. I shouldn't have thought her slutty ways could change."

"**My** slutty ways? Wow, and that coming from the biggest man-whore on the planet." Gabriella turned to Troy, hate written all across her face. Angrily Troy jumped up, glaring down at her.

"Don't you dare blame me for having a life, and enjoying it! Not everybody it such a prissy, stuck-up prude, like you!" Gabriella got up as well, both of them ignored the attempts of Steve to get them to calm down, or at least sit down.

"Did I just go from slut to prude? Completely makes sense, Bolton."

"And they're back to last names... and it was going so well." Sharpay looked at the screen with a soft grin. "On the other hand... perhaps they'll accidentally let something slip... in their anger." They all looked at her in disbelief, but she didn't notice, so intently was she staring at the screen.

"And do you really think you're life is gonna be like this forever? You're not going to still be this good in five years... and what are you gonna do then?" Gabriella raised an eyebrow, provoking him, daring him to say something so she could react. Not that she thought he needed any provoking.

"I'm going to know that at least I lived... contrary to some people in know." Gabriella rolled her eyes, unfazed but Troy's glare.

"Oh grow up... You're no longer five, Bolton. It's time to let go of childhood dreams. It's time to grow up." He almost laughed. No longer five... childhood dreams... did she really have to mention it?

"To become boring like you, you mean? No thanks. At least I lived my childhood dreams... you gave up on them." Which was true. She never lived, never did what she truly wanted. Not in his view at least.

"I didn't give up on them-" Gabriella responded less heatedly as he expected and he cut her off easily.

"Than tell me what ever happened to your dreams of becoming a singer?" He raised an eyebrow, provoking her like she'd done to him just seconds before. Oddly enough, she didn't respond to it. Instead, she frowned slightly, a sad look in her brown eyes.

"I didn't give up on my dreams, Troy... I grew up." He felt as if someone kicked him in the stomach. Of course... how could he have been stupid enough to bring it up! He knew why she gave up on her dreams, he knew what happened... Gabriella resisted the strong urge to burst into tears, instead sitting back down on the couch.

"She called him Troy!" Everybody looked at Sharpay in surprise.

"So what?" Chad gave her a look of combined confusion and annoyance.

"So it means she's referring to something that happened in their past..." She rolled her eyes. "Pay attention afro-boy."

"I'm not going to find out what that was about, am I?" Troy shook his head, and plopped down on the couch as well, running a tired hand through his hair. He hated doing interviews together with Gabriella, it was hugely energy and happiness draining.

"Ok, in that case, thank you for this interview, and good luck with your marriage... you'll need it." Gabriella gave Steve a small smile, that looked more sad than anything else, and Troy nodded towards him, more grim than anything else.

"So, that didn't go too bad, did it?" Sharpay looked around the group cheerfully. They looked back at her in disbelief.

"Shar, both of them look ready to kill themselves... not each other,** themselves**..." Jason successfully voiced the feelings of them all. For once.

"Well, yeah... but-"

"No buts, Shar... you might not want to give them any more interviews." She looked at them, before sighing.

"I wasn't really planning on doing that. It must be bad enough for them as it is." She ran a hand through her blonde locks. "I just want them to work it out... as much for us as for them." If only.

Review! I'll try to be quicker with my updates...

xoxo 

Naomi


	8. Meeting Mrs Davidson

To make up for my awful last update, another one!

**Meeting Mrs Davidson**

"I hate this." Gabriella folded her arms, and glared from under her aviators.

"I hate this too." Troy agreed, as he copied her actions and sagged against the wall.

"Wow, for once they agree on something." Sharpay absentmindedly glanced at them, sitting in a big white chair. They were sitting in the waiting room with the three of them, as Sharpay hadn't trusted Troy and Gabriella to go themselves, or without killing each other. They weren't exactly too pleased by the idea of meeting their wedding planner. "Oh, and Gabs, I absolutely love this week's edition!" Gabriella looked at her, in Sharpay hands was an open copy of the latest edition of _Star Elite_, her magazine.

"Thanks Shar." She looked at her friend slightly suspicious, for the past week and half nothing Sharpay had said to anyone, had been about something other than the engagement, or had at least been a relating topic, or something introducing on of her other horrid plans.

"I especially liked the article you put in about me! You know, the one with all those comments from my fans?" Gabriella nodded, still looking slightly suspicious. Sharpay was a famous singer, an ambition she had not so secretly held since she'd been born. She'd always shown talent, but nobody really expected her to make it. She proved them all wrong when she had her big break halfway her study, which she immediately quit. Since than more and more number one hits had come, and now Sharpay was the ruling Pop Princess.

"But talking about your magazine, I've got a brilliant idea for an article..." And here it goes. Gabriella sighed, and next to her Troy groaned loudly. "It's a good idea! I want you to keep a diary of your engagement. You know just as good as I do how good that would sell. Besides, if you'd give the people a look into your lives, they wouldn't be as interested in the scum of those paparazzi. And Troy, you can't complain she'll be mean about you, because she wouldn't do that because of your fans." Sharpay looked at them expectantly. Hesitantly Gabriella slid her aviators on top of her head.

"Shar... I'm not sure it's a good idea. I mean, you know I don't like people knowing about my personal life, and... I dunno, wouldn't it be kinda awkward? I just don't think it'll work." Sharpay shrugged smiling wide, as Troy sighed in relief.

"It doesn't really matter what you think. You're gonna do it anyway." Both Gabriella's and Troy's mouth dropped open in horror.

"Miss Evans? Miss Montez? Mr Bolton?" They all looked up, in front of them was a small woman with a kind face and dark eyes. She was wearing a short floral dress with bright colours, which stood out against her ivory skin. Her soft brown hair was pulled back in a low bun. "I'm Mrs Davidson. You can come in."

"Thank you." As they all followed the women into a large white office, Troy softly nudged Gabriella's side. She looked aside, he too had put off his aviators, and his blue eyes stood annoyed.

"Why do we listen to her again?" Gabriella had to hold back a chuckle as she whispered an answer, right before the door fell shut behind them.

"Because I don't want to make our wedding completely pink." Troy shuddered and they both said down. _Our_ wedding. It sounded so much better as it was... She knew her ten year old self wouldn't have minded those words as much as her older version. Wouldn't have minded them at all.

_*Flashback*_

"_So, Troy, who do you think you're going to marry when you grow old?" Gabriella looked at him curiously, her head hanging from his bed, where she was spread widely on her back. Troy looked at her from his place on the ground, where he too was spread out widely, a small frown etched on his perfect features. _

"_That's a stupid question." She frowned back at him, insulted._

"_No, it's not!" Troy got up on his elbows, looking at her in bored annoyance, though he slightly ruined it when he had to blow his fringe out of his eyes._

"_Yes it is, Brie! It's a really, really stupid question!" Gabriella jumped on her knees, the bed bouncing underneath her, she was glaring at Troy angrily. _

"_No, it's not!" She felt angry tears sting her eyes, and a disappointed pout was on her lips. Troy didn't notice it, he had gone back to lying on his back and was now staring at the ceiling._

"_Yes it is... it's really damn obvious, you know." She looked at him in confusion, the anger already forgotten._

"_How do you mean?" He looked back at her, annoyed again._

"_Well, obviously I'll marry you." He plopped back, and Gabriella lay down on his bed again, head on the pillows._

"_You're right, it is a stupid question. So... who will we invite?" This time it was Troy who looked confused._

"_To what?" Gabriella giggled, smiling widely at him, making him grin back._

"_To _our wedding_, of course... we've got to have a guest list ready!"_

_*End Flashback*_

"Do you have a guest list ready?" She was abruptly pulled back to reality, and winced slightly. She had one, hidden in an old white box, but she wasn't gonna say that.

"No." Troy shook his head, trying his best not to think about the last time he made his wedding guest list. Though, he didn't want Britney Spears to come that badly anymore. He remembered they had a complete argument over that, because Gabriella didn't like her songs but he thought she was hot.

"Well... I've been kind enough to make a first draft myself." Sharpay reached in her purse, and got out the doomed folder. After leafing through it for a minute, she got out a small stack of papers. "Here you go. It's about 1000 names, all with address and phone number, alphabetically ordered on last name."

"1000 people?!" Gabriella looked at Sharpay in shock. "How did you get 1000 people on my wedding?" Sharpay smiled softly.

"Well, apparently you two know a whole load of people. I mean, I invited Troy's team and some other Laker or basketball people, that were about 100 people. Then I invited everyone from your office, plus your work contacts... roughly about 150 people. I invited our whole High School graduation year, I thought we owed them as much after all those fights they had to endure. That were like 200 people. I invited some of Troy's friends from his 'party scene', just 50. Everyone we know in the music industry, 30 people. Some actors and actresses we're close to, about 45. Some big sports men Troy knows well, only 20 I think. Than you've got the writers we know, like 50, thanks to Gabs and Tay. Than the few big names we couldn't go past, also 50. Both you're families, another 50 people. Some close family from us, about 20. Some good friends we've left in our little home town, about 30. The odd model, just about 50... Thanks to our little player over here we got in contact with quite some. Some other friends of ours in LA, also around 100. And than you've got those fifty tickets we'll be bidding for charity..." Troy looked at her in amazement, but Gabriella frowned.

"That's only 975 people... you know that right?" Sharpay looked at her in mild surprise, and Troy turned his amazed gaze on her instead.

"You scare me when you do that, do you know that?" She rolled her eyes at his remark, but smiled softly anyway. Turning back to Sharpay, she found the blonde squirming in her seat uncomfortably.

"Well... there's also some seats we need for the press."

"NO!" Troy and Gabriella chorused the outcall, both of them glaring at Sharpay angrily, who looked away uncomfortably.

"I will not have press at my wedding!"

"It's bad enough they follow me day and night, without them also being at my wedding!"

"It's already public enough without it being followed worldwide through a live video report!" Sharpay sighed, and smiled at Mrs. Davidson in an apologizing way.

"I'm sorry guys. I don't want the press any more than you do, but face it... your marriage is biggest social event in the past... I dunno, forever or something. The press is gonna be there, whether you like it or not. If you allow them to report, they'll leave you alone for the rest of it. Probably." Gabriella sighed, and Troy ran a tired hand through his hair.

"You're right... I mean I don't like it, but..." Gabriella sighed again.

"We don't have a choice." Troy finished her sentence.

"Ok, now that's settled." Mrs. Davidson took advantage of the silence that finally settled in the room. "Miss Evans already picked an invitation, do you want to-"

"Is it pink?" Gabriella asked, looking at Sharpay rather than their wedding planner. As Sharpay shook her head, she nodded. "Then I'm sure it's fine."

"Ok... so, have you thought about flowers?" Mrs. Davidson asked, looking in the direction of Troy and Gabriella.

"Red and white roses." Gabriella promptly answered, making Sharpay look at her in surprise.

"Have you thought of a theme?"

"Well..." She looked at Troy hesitantly, and he quickly cut in.

"No way in hell are we taking a theme... We just want a traditional wedding." Gabriella nodded.

"Ok, in that case, do you have any other ideas?"

"I know a designer who can make my dress, and I've got a draft somewhere at home..."

"The dresses of the bridesmaids must have the colours of my eyes... just like my tie."

"The flowers have to be everywhere... petals on the aisle, the bouquet in my hands and the bridesmaids', standing around the room in big vases... preferably white ones."

"We need a large space for the ceremony, but can it happen in a white room?"

"Not a church... could we maybe rent a castle or something?"

"I didn't know you already thought anything out! When did you talk about this?" Gabriella looked up in surprise, and Troy seemed to have forgotten all about Sharpay.

"Well, actually-" Gabriella started looking at the floor uneasily, rubbing her hands over her jean-clad legs.

"This was decided a long time ago." Troy interrupted, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, his white shirt riding up to show some stomach, and the rim of his boxers above his dark jeans. Slightly amused Gabriella noticed they matched, both dark jeans, both white shirts, though hers was more a tank top, and both white shoes, his sneakers, her heels.

"Like, around the time we made the promise time long ago..." She glanced at Troy, caught his eyes, and looked away uneasily again.

"What more have you got?"

"We don't want too much bridesmaids... just the three of you." Gabriella smiled in the direction of Sharpay.

"And since you're already organizing everything anyway, you'll be maid of honour... Even though Allison will kill me for it." Sharpay squealed loudly, but Gabriella groaned.

"God, I forgot Allison fitted in the category 'family'. I don't suppose we can ban her, can we?" Troy chuckled and shook his head, and Sharpay looked at her confused.

"Why would we ban her? She's Troy's niece..." Gabriella looked at her, a small pout on her lips.

"I know that, but she hates me... She'll probably try to kill me in my sleep, or poison me just before the ceremony..." She shivered.

"Oh c'mon, I'm sure it's not that bad. Allison would never do that." Sharpay laughed uneasily. "Right, Troy?"

"Well, there just might be a chance she does have conspiracy to kill the bride... after all, she did push Gabriella out of a tree once..." He bit his lip.

"And off a bridge..." Gabriella added darkly.

"You were pretty lucky I could swim, or you would've drowned." Troy agreed.

"Almost in front of the bus..."

"I pulled you away, remember?"

"I got it! I'll make sure there's someone to keep an eye on her. We can't have her kill you with that much press in the building. It would become a complete mess!" Gabriella raised her eyebrows at Sharpay, and she quickly added, "Besides, I don't want you death. After all, you're one of my best friends, however annoying the two of you can get."

"Thanks, Pay." The words came out sarcastically, but Gabriella smiled nonetheless. She knew Sharpay long enough to know that if worst came to be and Allison's conspiracy succeeded, her friend would really miss her. "Still... it's hard to have a girl on your wedding who's been talking you about how she doesn't want you in her family since your ninth. And has tried to kill you." Gabriella said absentmindedly, reliving yet another murder attempt.

"I swear that girl is a psychopath." Troy nodded along, thinking of all the times he'd saved Gabriella from an untimely death, because his foreseeing niece hadn't wanted him to marry her. Allison must surely be fucking pissed right now.

"Right, so I think I've got enough to work with for now. I'll see you at your next appointment in three days." Gabriella and Troy nodded , shaking Mrs. Davidson's hand without really looking at her. In contrast Sharpay smiled brightly, and shook Mrs. Davidson's hand enthusiastically.

"You've gotten more out of them as I've got in months! Thank you, so much." And than she skipped out of the office, a bright flash of pink, practically running to make sure Troy and Gabriella hadn't killed each other yet. After all, they still had to go taste cakes.

Sooo, please review! Your reviews always make my day…

xoxo

Naomi


	9. Chocolate Vs Strawberry

Forgive me? Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty please? 

**Chocolate Vs. Strawberry**

_So, I think just about the whole world knows now, right? I'm engaged to Troy Alexander Bolton... and not too happy about it. That none other than Sharpay Evans has been arranging our 'relationship' for the past two weeks, doesn't really make it any better. I'm sure you've heard she got us to move in together? And there's a video of me and Troy fighting over the wedding cake outside world's most famous pastry on youtube... Chocolate vs strawberry. _

_It's a fight I remember us having when we were five, I think. As a matter of fact, I think it is how we got to know each other. When me and Troy met, I was like, four, and he was just five. Both of us were at the park with our mums, and both of us got ice-cream at that little ice-cream stand that's there every spring and summer. I ordered strawberry, and Troy, who was standing next to me, told me I should've taken chocolate, because it was 'waaaaaay better'. I didn't agree, and that was our very first fight in a long line. _

_But even though many hard words fell between us on that first sunny afternoon, ('Strawberry sucks, chocolate rules!', 'Chocolate stinks, strawberry is waaaay better!', 'Your eyes look like chocolate, chocolate is better!', 'You're a boy and boys are STUPID!') we decided to be friends. Who could've known, that such a silly little thing, decided by two five years olds, would effect their lives so much afterwards? 'Cause you can think about us whatever you want, that we had an impact on each other's lives, is one thing no one can deny. _

_But actually this column is supposed to be about my engagement... than again, it's also supposed to be my diary. You might've guessed it's an idea of Sharpay. Just like everything else that's happened in my life lately. Though, admittedly, Troy moving in, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We still fight pretty much always, but we've managed to avoid seeing each other whilst still living somewhat normally. And I gave him the basement. I haven't been there yet, and I'm not sure what he's done to the place, but judging from the amount of people coming over, I most likely don't want to know. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd turned it into some club..._

_It's funny. Your engagement should be one of the happiest moments in your life, but I spend mine dodging bombs. But don't worry, I won't kill him._

_Gabriella Ann Montez _

"So... it's pretty good writing, ain't it?" Chad looked at Troy expectantly, but he didn't look up, his eyes didn't move from the page that had Gabriella brand new column. The new issue of _Star Elite_ had come out just yesterday, and Chad thought it would be wise for Troy to read his fiancée's thoughts. Next to the article was a picture of Gabriella, smiling widely, and underneath there were Troy and Gabriella, standing a meter apart, very obviously screaming at the top of their lungs. "Ain't it?"

Troy still didn't responded. In his head he was five again, and he remembered how he'd tried to convince Gabriella of the greatness of chocolate ice-cream. Somehow he'd never managed to convince her of that, even after all these years she still wanted strawberry. And he still wanted chocolate. And they still fought about it. He scanned over the article again, and chuckled softly. _'Your eyes look like chocolate, chocolate is better.' _At the time it seemed like a good argument. _Your eyes look like chocolate_... since than he'd made that comparison so often, that he almost couldn't look at chocolate without seeing her eyes appearing in front of him. _Big pools of chocolate coloured happiness_... Who said he'd never been romantic? His fourteen your old self was pretty damn romantic, and prone to drowning in Gabriella's eyes... It had taken him ages to get over that.

"Hey dude, what do you think?" Troy looked up slightly startled. He'd almost forgotten about Chad. He grinned slightly.

"Just thinking about that first fight..." He chuckled. "I still can't believe she thinks strawberry is better as chocolate." Because it so obviously isn't. Strawberries are fruit, after all. And fruit is healthy. Healthy food equals disgusting food. Chocolate on the other hand, wasn't healthy. On top of that, it had variations. There was milk, white, hazelnut, pure... Strawberry only had strawberry.

"I noticed in the video on youtube. Seriously, fighting over a wedding cake for a wedding neither of you wants to happen? How pathetic is that?" Troy rolled his eyes, and leaned back in the cushions. They were hanging in the basement again, and he was sprawled across one of the couches, Chad on the other.

"It's not about the cake, Chad. It's about the principle." Chad snorted, and he continued. "I mean, c'mon! Strawberry better as chocolate?!" Chad rolled his eyes, getting off the couches to get a beer. He glanced over his shoulder at Troy.

"You've got issues." Troy rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Grab me a beer as well. And put some decent music on." Chad slipped behind the bar, reaching in Gabriella's spare fridge to fetch two beers, before tuning in on a different radio station. He walked back to Troy, throwing one of the bottles to Troy. Troy caught it with one hand and took a swig, when something on the radio caught his attention.

"And we've finally managed to get permission to air this, and I'm sure all of you will love this. As the only radio station, we now present to you: Gabriella Montez, with The Way I Loved You!" Troy spit his drink out, as he looked at Chad in shock, who was looking back at him with wide eyes. As Gabriella started signing on the radio, they heard the real Gabriella storm down the stairs. Seconds later the door was thrown open.

"I'm on the radio! I'm on the radio! I can't believe-" And than she abruptly stopped talking. It took throw exactly three seconds to figure out why: it was the first time Gabriella saw the transformed basement. "The basement." Chad got up carefully, expecting an anger tantrum. Gabriella could write down she wouldn't kill Troy all she wanted, it didn't mean she'd actually be able to control herself. Troy looked at his beer. She didn't say **my **basement, which is what she would have said if she was just mad about the changes. She said** the** basement, which meant she remembered.

_*Flashback*_

"_So, we'll marry, right?" Troy nodded. He and Gabriella were sitting in his tree house, it was about a month after they'd talked guest list. "That means that we'll live in the same house as well." Troy frowned slightly, and than nodded. That made sense. "What will our house be like?"_

"_Well, it will be really big, with a large garden. 'Cause I'll be rich from playing with the Lakers. Of course we need a basketball court, and I want a game room, and a video room, with this huge television!" He looked at Gabriella excited, eyes glistening. Gabriella however, was looking back at him in distaste._

"_We will not have a game room, or a video room, and especially not both!" Troy looked at her insulted. "I want a classy house. A pretty house." _

"_It's my house as well, I want to have a say!" Troy protested angrily, and Gabriella glared at him. _

"_You can have your say alright, just no video or game room! I'm sure you can think of something better..." Troy frowned slightly, distracted from his anger by this new challenge. Gabriella smiled softly, watching as his nose wrinkled slightly in thought, before his face cleared up and his eyes started glistening again._

"_What about we have a normal and pretty house, with a big fridge in the kitchen, and a big television in the living and bedroom..." Gabriella nodded carefully, waiting for him to continue, knowing there must be more. "But we'll have this totally awesome basement, which is just totally awesome!" He looked at her excited, and she giggled softly. _

"_Ok, I guess. But how will that basement look?" _

_*End Flashback*_

After that they'd made a sketch of how the basement would look. They'd made a sketch of this very basement. Of course Troy could've done something different, but it didn't feel right. They'd planned it like this, wanted it like this... the both of them. And he couldn't really think of anything better anyways.

"You made the basement." Gabriella looked around, the shock still in her body. The black bar, complete with the five silver stools. The basketball shaped bean bags, standing in front of the huge television, next to the bar against the back wall. Behind the bean bags was a set of two white couches, surprisingly enough still clean, positioned in an angle of 90 degrees, with a glass coffee table in the middle. In the exact centre stood a pool table, and against another wall was a low closet, made of light coloured wood. One corner was hidden by a water wall on one side, and a few plants on another, but Gabriella knew there was a lip shaped red couch behind them.

"Well…" Troy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It seemed to be what it was supposed to be." Gabriella nodded.

"It is." Her eyes finally caught the curtains that were draped on seemingly random places in the large space, and her breath caught in her throat. She quickly looked at Troy. "Has anyone seen-" He cut her off before she could finish the sentence.

"No one. They're officially forbidden." She nodded. Slowly she walked up to the curtain above the closet, she brought her hand up, hesitated slightly, and pulled the cloth off. Underneath the curtain was an enlarged picture of her and Troy. Both of them were smiling into the camera widely, sitting close together on a small bench, with ice cream in their hands. She smiled softly, that must've been about a month after they met, when both of them were five.

"Strawberry for you. Chocolate for me." Troy was standing beside her.

"Yeah." She noticed another curtain behind the bar, and slowly walked up to that, Troy following her. In front of it she halted, but before she could reach out, another hand pulled the curtain away. Troy revealed an enlarged picture of her. She was pretty sure it had been at her 24th birthday party. She was looking to the side, instead of the camera, and laughing at someone and in contrasts to the other photo, this one was in black and white. She breathed in deeply, before walking on, to the third curtain. Troy trailed behind for a bit, looking at her picture, before following again.

The third picture was slightly bigger as the other two, and when she removed the curtain she saw a picture of her and Troy on the swings. She giggled. They used to be on swings lots, especially when they were about nine, or ten, like they were in the picture. Gabriella had just swung forward, and was laughing widely, Troy on the other hand, was just swinging backwards, his smile just as big as hers.

"We used to love that." Troy nodded, chuckling.

"Oh, yes we did. But I personally like the last one best." Gabriella looked at him, before walking to the last curtain, that hung next to the stairs, and was easily the largest. In front of it she stopped again. She'd already had two pictures of their childhood, one of her and because she doubted there would be one of them fighting, this would probably be- Troy tore the curtain away, and Gabriella momentarily stopped breathing.

It was a huge picture of both their heads. Troy's head hung above hers, and even though you didn't see more as their heads, it was still obvious he was lying on top of her. Her hair was sprawled over white sheets, and their lips were only inches apart. The point was, that it wasn't that proximity that shocked her so much. It was the look in their eyes. They were looking each other straight in the eye, and she didn't think she'd ever seen such an intense stare… she could almost see it run from his blue eyes, to her brown ones. A small thread of visible happiness, undeniable attraction and… the complete trust of a first love.

"I think it's my favourite too." Tears blurred her vision, but it didn't matter, the image was branded in her mind anyway. She hadn't known that picture had been taken, and she wasn't sure when, or by whom, and it didn't even matter. The picture was there, it hung on the wall, and it would stay there. It would remind them of their very own _once upon a time_.

Even if their happy ending, wasn't too happy at all.

I do think that everything revealed in this chapter makes up for my month later update… partly. So, perhaps I still deserve a review? Pretty please?

xoxo

Naomi


	10. A Lost World

So, I have absolutely no excuse for not putting this on here earlier, because when I updated the last chapter it had already been written… But, well, I've been busy and a lot of things are going on right now so fanfiction is not really among my priorities right now. 

Enjoy the chapter!

**A Lost World**

"Are you completely utterly sure?" Chad nodded, and Sharpay squealed. "That's amazing…" She grabbed her bag and jacket. "C'mon, we've got to get going, everyone's already there." Chad nodded, following behind her, not sure if he'd done the right thing, but knowing it was too late to turn it around.

In the car Sharpay put the radio loud, and hummed along with every song. Quite honestly, it scared Chad. He hadn't seen Sharpay this happy in ages, and times he had seen her this happy, hadn't ended pretty. Sharpay was still in a brilliant mood when they got to the Starbucks, and didn't even curse when someone stole their parking space. As they walked, Sharpay skipped every other step, which could not be easy with the heels she was wearing. The doors were thrown open, making every customer look around as she skipped on to the counter, where she patiently stood in line, ordering with a huge smile on her face and tipping 100%. When she got to the table, Taylor, Kelsi, Zeke, Jason and Ryan were just as scared as Chad.

"So… Why are you so happy again?" Sharpay smiled brightly at her brother, taking a small sip from her coffee.

"Because," She said, drawing the word out. "I've come a long way in finding out why our good friends hate each other so much…" They looked at each other, and Taylor carefully cleared her throat, not able to suppress her curiosity. After all, she'd wanted to know why almost as badly as Sharpay, for an even longer time.

"What is it?" Sharpay smiled smugly, taking another sip of her drink, nut hurrying to answer the question.

"Well, we now know that they were friends for a long time, from their fifth to probably around their twelfth or thirteenth…" She took another sip off her drink, making sure to do it extra-slow. Taylor clacked her tongue impatiently. She wasn't exactly known for her patience.

"And after that?" Sharpay smirked smugly, putting down her cup and leaning forward over the table.

"After that… they dated." The reactions around the table varied. Jason spit his coffee in Chad's hair. Zeke dropped his. Ryan burned his tongue as he took a way to big gulp in surprise. Chad cursed as Jason spit the coffee in his hair. Kelsi looked at Sharpay open-mouthed. Taylor looked at her suspiciously.

"How certain is that information?" Sharpay grinned, grabbing her purse and getting her phone out. With a few clicks she found the picture she was looking for. It was the picture that hung in the basement, the favourite of Troy and Gabriella, the one with their lips barely apart. She looked at it for a second, before handing the phone to Taylor.

"100% certain, I'd say." She passed the phone around the table. Kelsi finally shut her mouth. Chad already knew the picture. Ryan dropped his coffee. Zeke almost dropped the phone in the pool of coffee he'd created on their table. Jason spit more coffee Chad's way, who'd seen this coming and ducked.

"You know, sometimes you people are unbelievable…" Sharpay rolled her eyes, grabbing her phone back. "Oh, and just to be clear, we don't talk about this to either Troy or Gabriella." Taylor nodded, Chad looked doubtful.

"Why?" And Jason was stupid.

"Because, one, they'll kill you," He gulped. "two, **I**'ll kill you," He adverted his gaze the table. "and three, we don't want them to distance themselves from each other, now they're finally sorta getting along." He carefully glanced up. "I don't know what happened when they dated, but it killed their relationship, and their friendship with it…"

"What happened, though?" They all looked at Kelsi. "I mean, from that picture it doesn't seem like it would just be a small thing, would it?"

"Not really." Zeke agreed. "Looking at that picture, it'd have to be a pretty damn huge thing." Sharpay snorted slightly, everything became huge when the two of them got in an argument.

"And you haven't seen those other pictures yet…" They looked at Chad in surprise. "One of them is just of Gabriella's face, another one of them when they were about five and eating ice cream, and than one where they're nine or so and on the swing set… something they apparently used to 'love'."

"They said that?" Chad nodded.

"Yeah. Why?" He looked suspiciously at the thoughtful expression on her face. In, say, 99.99999% of all cases that expression had meant a new scheme was in the making. New schemes, equalled new trouble. Especially now he'd provided her with so much more information.

"No reason." A small smile formed on her lips. "No reason at all." Chad gulped.

T_&_G

"So… How was practice?" It was hard, Gabriella decided. It was really hard to talk to Troy. Now they weren't screaming their conversations were increasingly awkward. That could be because they never looked each other in the eyes, that could also be because they really didn't have anything to talk about, that could also be because there were too many things they were avoiding talking about… Some subjects were just better to be left in the dark, stuffed far away.

"It was… good." Awkward. Troy definitely thought it was the word to describe this conversation. Awkward. It was funny, how the person he'd once been able to tell everything to, had turned into the person he couldn't have an ordinary conversation with. The person he couldn't give a normal answer when she asked about his practice.

"That's… good." She almost wished they could just go back to screaming. Screaming was easy, it didn't even require thinking. She'd managed fighting with Troy on auto pilot ages and ages ago. "You hungry?"

"A bit, actually." Troy hadn't noticed before she asked. Actually, he was really, really craving-

"Do you want me to make some pancakes?" –pancakes. That would've been scary, had it been anyone but Gabriella. Gabriella knew what he liked after practice. Gabriella knew what he liked whenever. Gabriella knew him. It truly seemed as if he hadn't changed for the last ten years of his life.

"Sure." But he had. If he hadn't, this conversation wouldn't have been this awkward. They would've never gone through this ten-year stage of hating each other. Not that they no longer hated each other. Or perhaps they didn't. He didn't really know, actually. After Gabriella saw the pictures, everything had just gotten so confusing. As if she couldn't scream to that nine year old who swung higher than she did. The way he couldn't scream to that five year old that liked strawberry ice cream better than chocolate ice cream.

Gabriella had walked to the stove, and was slowly putting all the ingredients together, searching to find everything. It was odd, to make pancakes for Troy. The last time she'd done that had been over ten years ago. That was a long time. She paused for a moment. It really was a long time. Could they really overcome that, by just being nice to each other? Could they forget all the hard words, ignore all the hatred, and leave that what they'd never managed to discuss between the two of them? Only time could tell.

"Here." She put the platter down in front of him. He looked at it for a few seconds before looking up again, a grin on his face.

"You remembered." She grinned back. She'd made his favourite pancake, the way he'd always wanted, but hardly ever was allowed to. A stack of five pancakes, covered in chocolate sauce, on top two cherries for eyes, a dot of whipped cream as a nose, a row of M&M's as a mouth, and the whole thing covered in sugar.

"'Course I did. I'm a genius, remember." Troy chuckled, before starting on his pancakes. As he relishes at the sweet taste melting on his tongue, he realized he'd really, really missed her pancakes. There was no one who made pancakes quite like hers. He took another bite, and glanced at Gabriella. She was sitting on the island, swinging her feet back and forth as she stared at them.

"Want a bite?" She glanced up, to see Troy holding a bit of his pancake towards her on a fork. She hesitated before grinning and jumping off the island.

"How'd you know?" He smirked, feeding her. She grinned at him, unaware that there was some stray sugar left beside her mouth.

"You've got some…" He moved his fingers to his mouth. "Some sugar… wait, let me-" He moved his fingers from his lips to hers, slowly wiping away the sugar. As he did so he looked up at her. Without warning the tension stormed into the room, leaving him to stare into her eyes breathlessly. The urge to kiss her shot through him so suddenly, he almost complied. Instead, he pulled his hand away quickly. Gabriella looked at him with wide eyes for a few tension filled seconds, before jumping up and quickly leaving the room. Troy sighed, looking at his plate before pushing it away, and staring into space.

Gabriella leaned against the door of her bedroom, having fled there immediately. They should've known. It was the same thing that happened when they were last friends. They crossed borders they shouldn't have. They disregarded rules they should've kept to. They tried to discover a new world, and lost their old one. And as it seemed right now, they could never get it back. Friendship was officially off limits.

She sighed, making her way to the bed. The tension had been unbelievably. It wasn't like the whole awkward thing that had been there before, it was more of a I-so-desperately-want-to-jump-you thing. Which really explained the tension. She lay down on her bed face down. The urge to kiss him, to kiss Troy, had been almost irresistible. Almost. But if he'd kissed her, there and then, she was convinced she wouldn't have fought him. Couldn't have fought him. A small beeping came from her right, and she turned her head. With another sigh she grabbed her phone, only Sharpay would text at moments like this.

_Heeey hun!_

_How r U? __Jumped T yet?_

_Talking about him, can the two of you come to the Starbucks?_

_I've got a surprise trip planned! (Don't worry, it's for the whole gang.)_

_Pack for a few days away, we'll be staying in a small beach house. (Don't worry, girl's room, boy's room.) So, we'll be at the beach, you know what to pack, for the rest of it I'll be leaving you in the dark._

_Love you!_

_Pay_

That simply could not end well.

Review…?

xoxo

Naomi


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